Nigeria city hit by twin suicide blasts

The two bombing raised the number of bomb attacks over the past week to five [Reuters]

Two blasts by female suicide bombers have killed three people and injured 13 in Nigeria's Kano city, bringing the number of attacks this week in the area to five and overshadowing festivities marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

A woman detonated low-calibre explosives packed to her torso at a petrol station in the Hotoro area on the outskirts of the city, targeting women who had lined up to buy kerosene, Kano police spokesman Musa Magaji Majia told AFP news agency.

Majia said 10 victims were rushed to the hospital after the blast that went off at roughly 09:30 GMT on Monday and that three had died.

Roughly three hours after the petrol station blast another female bomber approached the Trade Fair Complex in a key commercial district, Kano state police chief Aderele Shinaba said.

She was stopped at the gate and blew herself up, he added. "It was the same modus operandi," Shinaba said. "Six people were injured, including two (police) officers."

Celebrations banned

The violence marred what was supposed to be a festive day in Kano, a city of more than six million people and the largest in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north.

The city of Kano has banned all public worship and celebrations over the holiday marking the end of Ramadan that is currently underway. Other northern Nigerian cities have banned personal vehicles, fearing intensified violence over the holidays.

Kano is outside the region of northern Nigeria that has been under emergency rule for more than a year, but it is a frequent target of Boko Haram attacks.

On Sunday, a 15-year-old girl detonated a bomb near a temporary university site, killing only herself, said Kano State Shinaba said.

Five others were killed in a church bombing the same day, he said, and a third bomb was discovered at a mosque before it exploded, harming no one, Reuters news agency reported.

Three suspected Boko Haram members were arrested immediately after the church bombing, Shinaba said.